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13 February, 2013

Do You Fast? Ash Wednesday 2013

Ash Wednesday 2013

Isaiah 58

New International Version (NIV)

True Fasting

58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.Raise your voice like a trumpet.Declare to my people their rebellionand to the descendants of Jacob their sins.2 For day after day they seek me out;they seem eager to know my ways,as if they were a nation that does what is rightand has not forsaken the commands of its God.They ask me for just decisionsand seem eager for God to come near them.3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,‘and you have not seen it?Why have we humbled ourselves,and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you pleaseand exploit all your workers.4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,and in striking each other with wicked fists.You cannot fast as you do todayand expect your voice to be heard on high.5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,only a day for people to humble themselves?Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reedand for lying in sackcloth and ashes?Is that what you call a fast,a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:to loose the chains of injusticeand untie the cords of the yoke,to set the oppressed freeand break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your food with the hungryand to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them,and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,and your healing will quickly appear;then your righteousness[a] will go before you,and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,with the pointing finger and malicious talk,10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungryand satisfy the needs of the oppressed,then your light will rise in the darkness,and your night will become like the noonday.11 The Lord will guide you always;he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched landand will strengthen your frame.You will be like a well-watered garden,like a spring whose waters never fail.12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruinsand will raise up the age-old foundations;you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbathand from doing as you please on my holy day,if you call the Sabbath a delightand the Lord’s holy day honorable,and if you honor it by not going your own wayand not doing as you please or speaking idle words,14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the landand to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.